Windows Presentation Foundation 4.5 Cookbook

For C# developers, this book offers a fast route to getting more closely acquainted with the ins and outs of Windows Presentation Foundation. The recipe approach smoothes out the complexities and enhances learning.

• Full of illustrations, diagrams, and tips with clear step-by-step instructions and real world examples
• Gain a strong foundation of WPF features and patterns
• Leverage the MVVM pattern to build decoupled, maintainable apps

In Detail

Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF) provides developers with a unified programming model for building rich Windows smart client user experiences that incorporate UI, media, and documents.

WPF has become the leading technology for developing rich client applications on the Windows platform, packed with features and capabilities. However, WPF is big; in fact, it's huge, causing a steep learning curve for the beginner and even for those already using some WPF features.

Windows Presentation Foundation 4.5 Cookbook provides clear recipes for common WPF tasks. It includes detailed explanations and code examples for customizing and enhancing the basic scenarios, while gaining a deep understanding of WPF mechanics and capabilities.

WPF is different and requires a different mind-set and approach. This book provides recipes and insights not only in its design but also its practical implementation details.

Starting from the foundations of WPF, such as dependency properties and XAML, the book touches on all major WPF aspects, such as controls and layout, resources, and digs deep into its unprecedented data binding capabilities.

The book shows data and control templates in action, which allow full customizations of displayed data and controls in a declarative way. Supported by styles and resources makes data binding all the more powerful. The Model View View-Model pattern is presented as an effective way of maximizing decoupling of components, while providing an elegant way of expanding applications while maintaining a tight grip on complexity.

The later parts discuss custom elements and controls – the ultimate customization mechanism, and looks at multithreading issues, and how .NET 4.5 task parallelism features can enhance application performance.

What will you learn from this book

• Get tips and insights to maximize your productivity
• Learn to build complex and flexible user interfaces using XAML
• Perform lengthy operations asynchronously while keeping the UI responsive
• Get well-versed with WPF features such as data binding, layout, resources, templates, and styles
• Customize a control's template to alter appearance but preserve behaviour

Approach

This book is written in an easy-to-read style, with a strong emphasis on real-world, practical examples. Step-by-step explanations are provided for performing important tasks.

Who this book is written for

If you are C# developer looking forward to increasing your understanding and knowledge of WPF, then this is the best guide for you. Basic experience with Visual Studio 2010 is mandatory, as well as good C# skills. Previous experience with Windows Forms is not required.